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Thanksgiving Running

After my last couple of weekend runs ending with a sore knee part way through, I’ve focused on my pace and running a mostly flatter course. I’ve decided part of my problem has been starting out at a pace that was too high, and then pushing it on hills early in the run. The outdoor track I’ve been running has a pretty sharp uphill segment, followed by a long slower climb.

I’ve got a Christmas 10k coming up in two weeks, my first 10k, and I’ve been questioning myself over whether I could make it without walking the last part if my knee got sore.

I tested myself running on an indoor track, for 10k, on Monday, and had no problems (except being bored going in short circles). Next, I studied up on how to set up some interval training on my iSmoothRun app and put together a 5k and 10k set of negative intervals at a good training speed for me. I knew that with the four day Thanksgiving weekend I would be food challenged and would need to burn some calories to break even on weight.

On Thanksgiving day the weather was great – about 70 degrees with a nice breeze. I ran 10k around my neighborhood, doing three loops around a course with a long uphill, but not too steep, on the back side. Hearing the iSmoothRun voice telling me “slower” during the first couple of kilometers really helped me get a better feel for my pace. I finished tired but not worn out, or too sore, so I was very happy.

The next morning I was up three pounds, so I obviously enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner (cornbread dressing – I had to have seconds). Back outside that afternoon, I ran 5k at a faster pace with a sprint the last 100 meters. I was pretty worn down about the 4k point, but pushed through and had enough gas to do the sprint, so I was happy. I ran three minutes faster than my only 5k chip time, which also made me happy.

Now I’ll just be focusing on my upcoming 10k, and at least know I’ve got a good plan to work over the next two weeks. And focusing on keeping the weight going down, and not up. This morning I was down one pound, so I still have work to do to get over my holiday weight gain.

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One thought on “Thanksgiving Running”

Good luck on your upcoming race and hope the knee holds out for you. Don’t forget to give yourself a couple of days of easy workouts and rest going into your race for a good taper. I didn’t do this going into my first planned triathlon and ended up pulling an already sore calf.

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